Huge boost to UFC

The biggest winner from tonights fights i belive is the UFC. Wandy losing puts Dana in the driver seat of the UFC vs Pride war. He can now argue that Wandy isnt in Chucks leauge if he cannot even beat a Welterweight in Pride. Whether that is true or not is not as important as the perception it creates. Dana also has more ammo that Pride calling out the UFC is simply for them to try to save face becauase there are in trouble.

Even though they let him go, Diaz could be considered a UFC guy who was not in contention and went over and beat the #1 LW in the world. Not only beating him but doing it in a convicing manner.

Dont get me wrong a do not wish to see Pride sell or limp on. I think this was a much better card than the first one and i am glad i orderd it. All the general public wants to talk about is Chuck/Wandy and thi plays right into Dana's hands.

I completey disagree. I think this helped Pride a hell of a lot. You've got to remember, dudes on this forum, who actually follow and come out to talk about MMA are maybe 5% of the audience for it right now. The general audience doesn't talk about Wandy vs. Chuck because they've never seen Wandy fight until tonight. What they saw were a bunch of great fights, and they'll hopefully order Pride events and attend Pride events in the future.

It might have given UFC nuthuggers more ammo, but I couldn't care less about them anyways, so I see this as a positive thing. Any strong card is good for the sport.

_______________________________________All brave men with hearts of war, ride the path of mighty Thor.

DREAM 1 - 2nd in PtsCage Rage 23 - 6th in PtsSecondary League Season 3 - 12th in PtsSecondary League Season 7 - 16th in WagersPrimary League Season 7 - 26th in WagersSecondary League Season 6 - 30th in PtsSecondary League Season 1 - 31st in PtsPrimary League Season 6 - 39th in WagersSecondary League Season 7 - 41st in Pts

I really still feel like the casual fan still has no idea who or what Pride is; It's hard to spend $40 on some fighters maybe you've never heard of before when you've got a Randy Couture/Tim Sylvia PPV a week away. I think this really helped Pride with the hardcore fans and helped any new fans who might have been watching. I couldn't help but notice how empty that building was...more then a few seats available. It was a great card and I for one am happy that I ordered.

I talk fights with a lot of customers at work, and a good deal of them were watching Pride for the first time tonight. Pride did a pretty good job advertising on the PPV channels, so it clearly drew in some fans, and hopefully they were impressed.

As for attendance, it was pretty full up by the main event. I don't know why people would buy a ticket and not show up for anything but the last few fights, but whatever. People do that with concerts too.

_______________________________________All brave men with hearts of war, ride the path of mighty Thor.

DREAM 1 - 2nd in PtsCage Rage 23 - 6th in PtsSecondary League Season 3 - 12th in PtsSecondary League Season 7 - 16th in WagersPrimary League Season 7 - 26th in WagersSecondary League Season 6 - 30th in PtsSecondary League Season 1 - 31st in PtsPrimary League Season 6 - 39th in WagersSecondary League Season 7 - 41st in Pts

_______________________________________All brave men with hearts of war, ride the path of mighty Thor.

DREAM 1 - 2nd in PtsCage Rage 23 - 6th in PtsSecondary League Season 3 - 12th in PtsSecondary League Season 7 - 16th in WagersPrimary League Season 7 - 26th in WagersSecondary League Season 6 - 30th in PtsSecondary League Season 1 - 31st in PtsPrimary League Season 6 - 39th in WagersSecondary League Season 7 - 41st in Pts

I don't see how it's a huge boost to UFC. Hughe and Franklin both lost their belts. It just prove that champion can be beaten by newcomers. Now if CroCop and Rampage unseat Tim/Randy and Chuck, would that be a huge boost to Pride? I don't think so since they are UFC fighters now. Diaz is a Pride fighter now and there's nothing wrong with Pride fighter beating another Pride fighter.

With Pride 33, it allow Pride to make new match-ups. Hendo vs Shogun/Arona/Trigg, Silva vs Lil Nog/Rameu, Diaz have more fighters to fight now and he might do better at lightweight. What Pride needed was some new stars and they got it at Pride 33.

I'm a fan of all MMA. Pride 33 helps Pride and MMA in general. Great fights. Showing Nick Cage, Harrison Ford, Chuck Norris and Herschal Walker all night helps out. People will say, "If they watch and attend then it must be cool."

The Nog fight, the Wandy fight and Gomi fight showed that if you stand and bang, anything can happen. It shows that fighters are getting better and better. That you can't take anybody lightly. It makes what Fedor and Chuck are doing, that much more impressive.

Great card. Great fights. Great production. Now hopefully, both the UFC and Pride, will quite acting like little kids and embrace what each other is doing for the sport. It's only getting bigger. Spike TV, ShowTime, Vs, HDNet and FSN are all onboard. Next up could be ESPN and HBO.

Please Dana and Jerry Millen quit with the "We're the best, no, we're the best" garbage and just do what is best for MMA. It is blowing up and sooner or later people will get tired of the high school games.

_______________________________________"To me the records were just a starting point," recalls John Paul Jones, "The most important thing was always the stage show. So many great nights. At our worst we were still better than most. At our best we could just wipe the floor with the lot of them. It was just a very good live band."

I'm a fan of all MMA. Pride 33 helps Pride and MMA in general. Great fights. Showing Nick Cage, Harrison Ford, Chuck Norris and Herschal Walker all night helps out. People will say, "If they watch and attend then it must be cool."

The Nog fight, the Wandy fight and Gomi fight showed that if you stand and bang, anything can happen. It shows that fighters are getting better and better. That you can't take anybody lightly. It makes what Fedor and Chuck are doing, that much more impressive.

Great card. Great fights. Great production. Now hopefully, both the UFC and Pride, will quite acting like little kids and embrace what each other is doing for the sport. It's only getting bigger. Spike TV, ShowTime, Vs, HDNet and FSN are all onboard. Next up could be ESPN and HBO.

Please Dana and Jerry Millen quit with the "We're the best, no, we're the best" garbage and just do what is best for MMA. It is blowing up and sooner or later people will get tired of the high school games.

I agreed man. Who care who the best organization. It's all about the fighters and the fans. Give the fan exciting and entertaining fights is what it's all about.

I completey disagree. I think this helped Pride a hell of a lot. You've got to remember, dudes on this forum, who actually follow and come out to talk about MMA are maybe 5% of the audience for it right now. The general audience doesn't talk about Wandy vs. Chuck because they've never seen Wandy fight until tonight. What they saw were a bunch of great fights, and they'll hopefully order Pride events and attend Pride events in the future.

It might have given UFC nuthuggers more ammo, but I couldn't care less about them anyways, so I see this as a positive thing. Any strong card is good for the sport.

dido. i whatched ufc for a while and really liked it. but when i saw pride for the first time i loved it. more energy, more excitement, very few boos, bas/quadros, always competitive matches. bringing back loosing fighter cause they put up a great fight (not just dumping them after a couple of losses.

i think this helps mma, pride and their us fan base a lot. i dont think it helps ufc at all. the ufc is so readily available to the casual fan (TUF, TUF finale, fight night, unleashed, inside the ufc, all the replays of these events, ALL OF THIS ON FREE TV). pride is only available on fsn once and a while. if i was a newb and this was the first pride event i ever saw, i would definitely want to order the next pride ppv, not the next ufc (i can watch ufc anytime for free).

I liked the PPV and thought they were great fights. Posted on this website is the radio interview of Dana and the Pride US guy going back and forth on the fighter issue. One of the big questions to Wandy at his workout was Chuck. Im not talking about the people that come to the forums, we are not fueling this surge in MMA popularity. It is the media outlets that continue to pick of the stories and sending more and more reporters to the events. That is where most average joe fans get there info. They all want to talk Chuck/Wandy. Pride stance for a very long time is that Wandy has been the best 205 fighter in the world, since like you mentioned he has tested himself against the best in the world at different wieght classes. The UFC disagerees of course. To the average fan who have no idea about who Wandy has fought, his lose to Hendo, who most put as a decent underdog calls his status into question. Die hard fans of a sport, and the ones on this board deal in the reality of the sport. the casual fan deals wit hthe perception that the media puts forth. The media is very uneducated about MMA. I think Dana was incredibly happy Wandy lost. Which is kinda ironic becuase i do belive it was a boost to Pride US. I only ordered the card because some plans fell through. Glad that they did. I hate that crazy announcer woman also.

I think a lot of MMA nerds like us often times forget about the entertainment value of these events. Win or lose that card was really exciting and entertainment value above all builds organizations. As far as this Pride card hurting PRIDE and helping UFC I think all it helps are nutthuggers on both sides of the line and gives MMA nerds like us reasons to haggle over petty things

IMO I think the UFC would benefit from some huge upsets in the LHW, and HW division to keep us on our toes!